Valve assembly of brass musical instruments



Feb. 1970 sYuzo KUROKAWA ET AL 3,494,242

VALVE ASSEMBLY OF BRASS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed Feb. 15, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1970 sYuzo KUROKAWA ETA!- VALVE ASSEMBLY OF BRASS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed Feb. 15. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mv mm:

United States Patent 3,494,242 VALVE ASSEMBLY OF BRASS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Syuzo Kurokawa and Shigemitsu Fuzioka, lI-Iamamatsushi, Japan, assignors to Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha, Hamamatsu-shi, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Feb. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 705,765 Claims priority, application Japan, Feb. 18, 1967 (utility model), 42/ 13,518

Int. Cl. Gd 9/04 U.S. Cl.-84389 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A valve assembly for brass musical instruments comprising a fourth valve mainly operable by the little finger for broadening the bass gamut which forms said assembly together with first, second and third valves, characterized in that the fourth valve is operable by the little finger of one hand and also by the other hand independently of said little fingeroperation.

Background of the invention The present invention relates to brass musical instruments and more particularly to a valve assembly for brass musical instruments which has been improved so as to facilitate theoperation of a fourth valve for broadening especially the bass gamut of brass musical instruments such as the sousaphone, tuba and euphonium, etc.

Heretofore,- it has been contemplated to provide a fourth valve in addition to the three valves in ordinary use so as to broadenthe bass gamut of brass musical instruments particularly such as the sousaphone, tuba and euphonium types. In such case, the fourth valve assembly was arranged in parallel to the commonly used first to third valves and had to be operated naturally by the little finger of the right hand. Thus consideration was given in providing the fourth valve to align its horizontal position and height with the little finger. However, the relatively weak pressing force and insufficient mobility of the little finger as compared withthe other fingers presented difiiculties in operating the fourth valve, so that to overcome these difficulties, an extremely high degree of skill was demanded of the player. Another consideration was to dispose the fourth valve at a point apart from the first to third valves so as to be operable by the left hand finger. However, this would often cause the musical instrument to be held insecurely and the player to take an unnatural posture, and particularly in the case of a heavy instrument, prevent him from carrying out a stable performance. Also in such'case, the'fourth valve was likely to be fitted in a manner to protrude from the body of the musical instrument, thus causing great inconvenience when it was carried by the player or other-wise handled and resulting in its eventual damage.

Summary of the invention degree of skill attained by the player.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is an elevation of the valve assembly for brass musical instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the valve assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the broken away part of the fourth valve alone involved in the embodiment of FIG. 3 with parts thereof shown in section;

FIGS. 4A and 4B respectively are an elevation and section of a mechanism connecting the action rod and the receiving pipe thereof of the foregoing embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an elevation of part of the lever for operating the fourth valve according to another modification of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is an elevation of a large bass instrument fitted with a valve assembly of the present invention.

Detailed description of the invention There will now be described an embodiment of the present invention by reference to the appended drawings. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the reference numerals 11, 12 and 13 respectively represent first, second and third valves heretofore used in many brass musical instruments of the aforementioned type. These first to third valves 11, 12 and 13 are arranged in parallel adjacent to each other, and operated by the fore finger, middle finger and ring finger of the right hand respectively. Numeral 14 denotes a fourth valve disposed at a point corresponding to the position of the little finger of the right hand. This fourth valve 14 is used in broadening the bass gamut as previously described.

As singled out in FIG. 3, the fourth valve 14-comprises a cylinder 15 and a piston 16 slidably inserted therein. The piston 16 is fabricated into a columnar form and has a plurality of bores 17 having opening ends on the columnar surface. With the axial transfer, these bores carry out the change of air passage to various crooked tubes (not shown) communicating with the side wall of the cylinder 15, as well known.

To the lower opening of the cylinder 15 there is fitted by means of a screw a bottom cap 18 having a bore in the center. To the upper opening of the cylinder 15 there is fitted similarly by means of a screw an upper cap 19 bored in the center. Into the bore perforated in the center of the upper cap 19 there is inserted a piston rod 20 whose bottom end is connected to the top surface of the piston 16. To the top of the piston rod 20 there is screwed a finger button 21 for pressing the piston in playing the instrument. In this case, on the lower circumferential edge of the finger button 21 there is provided an annular protrusion 22. On the top surface of the cap 19 there is cut an annular groove 23 to receive the annular protrusion 22 so as to restrict the extent to which the finger ing force of the piston spring 25. To the bottom 24 of the piston 16 there is screwed an action rod 26 through the central bore of the bottom cap 18. The lower end of the action rod 26 is connected to the upper end of receiving pipe 27 in a manner described hereinafter on the outside of the cylinder 15. In the case the joint of the action rod 26 and receiver thereof is constructed as shown in FIGURE 4, namely, in such a manner that when the action rod itself is pulled down its falling force is not transmitted to the action rod receiver 27, and that only when the receiver rod is lowered the action rod is allowed to fall in resistance to the piston spring 25. To describe in further detail, the lower end of the action rod 26 is perforated in its longitudinal direction with a slit 28 slightly longer than the reciprocating stroke of the piston body 16. Within this lengthy guide slit 28, the pin 29 of the action rod receiver is disposed in a manner to traverse the opening at the top of the receiver. At ordinary times, the pin 29 is positioned in the slit 28 at the bottom part thereof to touch the bottom end part of the guide slit 28. As an alternative, the structures of the rod 26 and receiver 27 may be reversed so that an elongated guide hole is provided on the receiver 27. In this embodiment, the pin 29 is eliminated and instead rod 26 is integrally provided with a protruding pin. Further, in place of the lengthy guide slit, there may be provided other means, for example, a guide groove which will perform the same function as the lengthy guide slit in connection with the point of the piston and action rod.

The bottom end of the receiving rod 27 is connected to the upper end of a connection tube 31 through a turnbuckle 30. This turnbuckle 30 is connected to the receiving rod 27 and connection tube 31 by lock nuts 32 and 33 respectively so as to adjust the overall length of the assembly consisting of the action rod receiver 27, tumbuckle 30 and connection tube 31. The bottom end of the connection tube 31 is rotatably connected to one end of an activating lever 34 curved in the U-shape in a direction approximately perpendicular to the connection tube 31. The bend of the activating lever 34 is provided at a certain point by a bearing device 35 on the instrument body. When the other end of the activating lever 34, namely, a fingering portion 36, is pressed down as shown by arrow, the piston 16 is lowered by the aid of the connection tube 31, receiving rod 27 and action rod 26 in resistance to the force of the piston spring 25. In FIG. 3, numeral 37 represents an auxiliary plate spring disposed on one side of the curved portion of the level 34 in such a manner that brings the activating lever 34 to its original position as shown in FIG. 3 in cooperation with the piston spring 25 when the pressing force of the activating lever 34 applied in the direction of an arrow is released. When the fingering portion 36 at the end of the activating lever 34 is pressed downward as indicated by the arrow, the lever rotates around the bearing 35 as a fulcrum so as to pull down the piston 16 of the fourth valve 14 in resistance to the force of the piston spring 25. In this case the piston rod 20 also falls jointly with the piston 16. Since the extent of the fall of these members is limited by the annular protuberance 22 of the finger button 21, the opeartion of the activating lever 34 affords the same action as is carried out by the pressing of the finger button 21. Namely, the desired tone pitch is selected by changing air passage to the corresponding crooks among those defining the length of resonance tubing. When the force applied on the activating lever 34 is released from this condition, the activating lever 34 and piston 16 regain their original positions by the piston spring 25 and auxiliary spring 37. At the time of such return to the original position, there sometimes occur noises due to the impact of the top surface of the piston 16 on the inner wall of the cap 19. This may be suitably avoided by attaching buffer material 38 to the 4 top surface of the piston 16 or the inside of the cap 19. FIG. 6 represents a large bass instrument fitted with the valve assembly of the present invention.

Due to the aforementioned construction, the fourth valve included in the valve assembly of the present invention is not only operable by the right hand finger like the first to third valves 11 to 13, but also by the left hand finger by the aid of the activating lever 34, if operation with the right finger is difiicult. Even then the same performance effect Will be obtained. Since, in this case, there is not provided any valve at the part of the musical instrument facing the left hand, there will occur no inconvenience in its construction. Nor will there be any difficulties in holding the instrument, because the operation of the activating lever 34 alone is all that is required.

When the fourth valve 14 is operated by the finger button 21, the action rod 26 and the connecting mechanism of the receiving rod 27 having the lengthy guide slit 28 perforated in its longitudinal direction will substantially prevent any load exerted by the activating lever assembly 34 from being transmitted to the piston member 16. Therefore the required degree of touch with which the finger button 21 is operated will vary little from that which is experienced in case where the activating lever 34 is omitted, so that the attachment of the activating lever 34 will have no harmful effect on performance.

The foregoing embodiment involved the vertical manipulation of the activating lever 34. However, it will be apparent that the present invention can be practised even by the lateral manipulation of the activating lever 34 as required. As shown in FIG. 5 to carry out this lateral manipulation, one end of an approximately U-shaped activating lever 39 is rotatably connected to the bottom end of the connection tube 31 and the almost vertically disposed bend at the bottom of the lever 39 is supported by a bearing device 40. With this activating lever 39, a vertical section thereof not connected to the connection tube 31 is used as a fingering portion 41. When the U- shaped lever 39 is operated by pressing it in a horizontal direction as indicated by the arrow, it will rotate around the bearing as a fulcrum. Thus the fourth valve is operated in the same manner as in the foregoing embodiment. Numeral 42 of FIG. 5 denotes an auxiliary plate spring.

The present invention as described above renders the fourth valve operable not only by the little finger of the right hand but also by the left hand finger as required, when the valve is provided to broaden the bass gamut in addition to the first to third valves in ordinary use. The present invention also enables the fourth valve to be operated with ease and certainty. Particularly the parallel arrangement of the fourth valve to the first to third valves eliminates the ocurrance of difiiculties in the construction of a brass musical instrument and enables it to be carried by the player or otherwise handled as easily as the conventional type of brass musical instrument.

What is claimed is:

1. In a valve assembly for brass musical instruments comprising four valve units each adapted to be operated by one of the fingers on one hand of the player, each valve unit including a cylinder, a piston slidably disposed therein, a finger button on each piston for operation by the player, and spring means in each cylinder normally urging its respective piston upwardly in the cylinder, the improvement wherein said fourth valve unit may be selectively operated by either the little finger on said one hand or by the other hand, and including a rigid link extending downward from said cylinder and outwardly therefrom, a connection tube, means connecting said rigid link to said connection tube permitting said link to move downwardly without movement of said tube when the piston is operated by the little finger and downward movement of said tube causing downward movement of said link and said piston, a hand lever pivotally mounted on References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Fiske 84390 Durant 84-389 Baker 84-389 Einhorn 84390 Strane 84-388 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner J. F. GONZALES, Assistant Examiner 

